Day 5 of The Ice and Snow Storm 2011

Today was uneventful, I stayed in my p.j.'s. most of the day! I chopped up a lot of the ice in my driveway, I got out there with my flat shovel and worked away at the ice. It's still a mess on the road. We got to up to 40 degrees today, so some of the ice melted. We still have a lot more melting to go.

I made a scrumptious dinner Lemon Garlic Chicken and roasted parsnips, carrots, cauliflower and whole cloves of garlic tossed in olive oil, gray sea salt and cracked pepper. This was a very tasty meal. I have not been able to go to work all week! I don't go back until next week. It's been great getting up at a decent hour of the morning and my dogs love having me home too.

Day 4 Of our Snow and Ice Storm

This post is all about yesterday. Our roads are still very icy. The state of Georgia really does not have the equipment to handle all this ice. Eggs, bacon and toast, was my breakfast which I had right before I broke free from my house. I was scared but I did it. Guess what? I joined Weight Watchers yesterday, yippee! This is my on again off again battle with shedding these pounds. My son Brandon treated me for lunch at Tam's Back Stage, it's a really nice restaurant in town. Its an old school house and the upstairs is a playhouse, where they perform all kinds of great plays. It's really a neat kind place to go for lunch or dinner. I would not stir you wrong. If you go, I would recommend Kelly's Chicken Salad, City Pasta, crab cakes and of course the salmon. Brandon is good friends with Brian the owner. He use to work for him for many years and sometimes Brian will call him if he get into a bind. I order the salmon and it was very moist and tender. The salmon is cooked in white wine, it was delicious. After lunch I dropped off a bunch of thing's to the Goodwill. I hope to do this every time I go to town for the next few months. I am trying to simplify my life. I went to Kohl's to find something to wear to Katie and Brandon's engagement party which is right around the corner. Have I told you how hard it is to try on cloths when you have 3 layers of your own cloths on plus 4 layers of fat. Pulling them off and on every time you want to try something new on, except the fat of course. I wish I could pull that fat off and leave it on the side of the road next to the snow, so when the snow melts the fat melts with it, sorry I am rambling again. I usually take about 20 thing's into the dressing room at one time so, I don't have to keep taking off all my layers anyway its a pain. I did find something after about an hour and half of looking and trying on. Some thing's were very scary on me, I would put something on and go oh no way, or I would just laugh. It's not fun trying cloths on, when you're overweight! Enough of that! I got home after 5 pm last night, which was kind of late especially because the sun was not melting the ice and it was scary driving on the icy roads. I fish tailed it a couple of times in my vehicle. I came home and whipped up a delicious meal. How does this sound? Garlic and Ginger Beef served over Jasmine Rice; fresh carrots sliced on the dangle, tossed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 tsp. brown sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, about a tablespoon or orange rind, sea salt and cracked black pepper; fresh spinach saute in garlic infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I first took about 4 to 6 fresh garlic cloves and sliced them into slivers. I put about 1 to 2 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into a cold frying pan. I turned the heat to medium. And here is a warning, do not walk away, not even for a minute they will burn. You are trying to brown them so they are crispy little garlic chips, flip them after a minute when they are golden brown, then turn the heat off while you brown the other side. Move them to a paper towel when they are browned. Now you have all that garlic infused oil left in your pan, turn the heat to medium add your fresh spinach. It will pop and crackle, toss with tongs until wilted. Place on a plate, sprinkle a little sea salt and garlic chips, yummy and healthy! I couldn't take a picture with my piece of you know what, because my camera died last night. It took this last picture of my breakfast. I am hoping to get a new one for my birthday next month. I really love taking pictures I use my camera everyday, so this is really going to be hard for me. I finally joined the skype world yesterday, I got a web cam for Christmas and I set it up, after some probing from my daughter. It was fun Skyping with her.

Still Iced in from "OMG Snow Storm 2011"

It's another day of no school for the kids. Almost all of the snow has turned into ice and the roads are really bad. They have the highways almost clear but the secondary roads are a different story. There was cars all piled up on my main road an hour ago, people were not able to make it over a small hill, once they stopped they were done. I am cleaning my house today and getting piles together to donate to our local shelter. I also, am going over to my neighbors house to show her how to make my Rosemary Bread. I was good this morning I made Oatmeal with apples, cinnamon, vanilla, fresh nutmeg and a little brown sugar. Lunch I had leftover Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage, mini meatballs, Parmesan Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, and Ricotta Cheese. I also, had some homemade French Bread, yummy! I have to go see what I am making for dinner not sure. The sun finally came out today, but its not going to do much good at melting the snow it's 27 degrees and we will be in this pattern for a few more days. I think people around here have had enough of all this ice and snow. It was fun the first two day but we are ready to get back to work. They asked everyone for the second day to stay off the roads because they are so bad.

Eating Pancakes 6/11/11

I am board what do you want, I am stuck in the house from all this snow what else do you do but eat and that other thing! I will work out on the elliptical and do some weight exercise. You know what my problem is I really, really, really, really love to cook and make yummy food for my family. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it! I need that gene taken out of my brain. Seriously I need to do something about this madness, thank goodness I don't have any health issues. To make myself feel better about eating this meal, I serve it on a lunch plate. In my mind I am thinking it's less calories. Isn't that funny? This magic thing happens when the food hits the plate it automatically starts reducing the calories as soon at the food hits the plate. In my mind I see a little sign in my pancakes that says you saved 600 calories and the other food says -300 and -400. Look at me I couldn't even say BACON and SAUSAGE. See now I am halfway to recovery, just by saying it. Aha that feels better. I know what you are saying, she is crazy! You are probably right, who else would think like this? My friend Mike says "skinny is overrated." I love Mike!

Snow Storm of January 10, 2011

I can't believe how much snow we got last night and today! I was like a kid again, so excited to get out in the snow and play. The State has been shut down because of the snow and ice. I know you are asking what the heck am I wearing, I am just going to say it I don't care, I just wanted to get outside, so there. I'm a kid remember? The snow came down like confectioner sugar, that consistency. It was hard making a snowman with this kind of snow. I'm not complaining you know, its just I wanted to make this huge snowman and all I could do is a mini me! People abandoned their cars on the highway's last night and we have a state of an emergency. They asked everyone to stay home and not to get out on the roads. Well, if you know me that's not going to fly, so what did we do? You got it, we jumped in the truck and went down the road and did donuts in an open parking lot. It was so much fun! The fire place has been going all day and night. We had leftovers for lunch today. We had slow roasted pot roast that I cooked in a whole bottle of Burgundy Wine. Let me tell you that was one tasty meal. For dinner we had slow cooked Country Pork Chops, cooked in barbecue sauce, Jasmine Rice with homemade French Bread. Yummy!
The dogs loved peeing and playing in the snow. I could hear the children down the road laughing and playing in the snow, they were sledding down our road which has a fantastic slope for sledding. We are going to be in this cooling trend for the next week and we will not be out of the low 30s for awhile. The roads are very icy and dangerous to drive on.

This too warms my soul

I made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup last night for lunch today. I seasoned 3 chicken breast with the bone on in a 450 degree oven for about 40 minutes, I think. I then chopped a half an onion, carrot and celery and saute in extra virgin olive oil and a pat of butter. I have a secret I can't share right now, only a very few people know. I added chicken broth and chicken stock to the saute veggies. After the chicken was cooked I shredded it and set it aside. I put in small noodles and cooked the soup for about 6 minutes more. I then added the cooked shredded chicken and cooked for an additional 3 minutes.

How it warms my soul....

Okay I had to get this monkey off my back; I had to know I could do it, so I did! I know we are all trying to lose weight, but I had to try homemade Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls! Who's your mama?

I found this recipe on another blogger's site. I made the dough last night and put it in the fridge. This morning I woke up earlier than normal to roll out the dough and make these amazing Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls. Wow, they really are as good as they look. I just wished I didn't have to inhale mine as I was leaving for church this morning. Something like a cinnamon roll should be savored, not rushed in any way. You should be able to say um mm after every bite, which I did in 3 bites. When you consume this many calories in a meal, it should be taken in slowly. I will stop rattling on now. You should make these for you and your family. You will be able to get them to do things around the house you have been asking for for a very long time. You should also know I took a hot pan of these Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls over to my neighbors house this morning before we went to church. My friend Anne did not know I was bringing them over to her, so that should have been a nice surprise for her and the kids. Oh the house on the other side of me is for sale! You should also, know I have two more batches of dough in the fridge waiting to be made. This recipe makes four pans of rolls. This post justifies having 6 pictures!